A notable Michigan publication calls for a complete overhaul of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. The Traverse City Record-Eagle serves a large readership. An editorial published by the media concludes with the assessment that “Perhaps it is time to uproot and replant this bureaucratic weed.”
Before that last line, the Record-Eagle sets out the agency’s truly sad history, spanning multiple governments, not just what happened under the leadership of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The UIA’s mistakes, dating back to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, have undoubtedly made tens of thousands of Michigan residents wonder how senior government administrators dropped things we have seen since last spring .
The use of the term in the publication, “Incompetent bureaucracy” in conjunction with the UIA comes at a time when a state legislative committee is launching a full review of the agency. Wayland Republican Representative Steve Johnson chairs the State House Oversight Committee. He has announced a thorough review of the UIA by the Oversight Committee. While the probe is in progress, it really isn’t going to be in full swing until lawmakers get back to work after the summer break.
One of the triggering problems is the recent and monumental crisis surrounding the agency. Due to its own misapplication of federal guidelines, it is now telling hundreds of thousands of citizens that they could potentially be forced to repay benefits they received from the agency.
State Representative John Damoose is calling on the agency to vacuum it up and fix the problem it created itself. He says the UIA has no problem imposing another problem on citizens who have received unemployment benefits in good faith, based on the guidelines the agency placed on them.